Food product gripping assembly for a food product slicing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A food product slicing apparatus is provided for slicing food products into slices. A frame mounts a drive assembly, a lower feed roller, a shear bar and a slicing blade. The drive assembly moves the food products onto the lower feed roller. The food product passes over the lower feed roller and through the shear bar for slicing by the slicing blade. At least one upper feed roller is mounted on the shear bar and is adjustable in position relative to the lower feed roller.

CROSS-REFERENCE To RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority of U.S. provisional applicationSer. No. 63/271,459, filed on Oct. 25, 2021, the contents of which areincorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to a gripping assembly forgripping a food product as the food product is being sliced by a slicingblade of a food product slicing apparatus.

BACKGROUND

Food product slicing apparatuses include a slicing assembly which slicesfood product into individual slices. A high speed, rotating blade worksin conjunction with a shear bar to form the slices. The shear bar has anopening through which the food product passes and serves to hold thefood product in place during the slicing. Because the shear bar has aset opening size, food product that does not fully fill the opening canbe misaligned during the slicing which impacts the dimensions of theresulting slice. Operators would appreciate improvements to theregistration of the food product as it passes through the shear bar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The organization and manner of the structure and operation of thedisclosed embodiments, together with further objects and advantagesthereof, may best be understood by reference to the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, whichare not necessarily drawn to scale, wherein like reference numeralsidentify like elements in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a rear perspective view of a food product slicingapparatus;

FIG. 2 depicts a cross-sectional view of the food product slicingapparatus with a loading tray assembly of a feed assembly of the foodproduct slicing apparatus in a lowered position;

FIG. 3 depicts a cross-sectional view of the food product slicingapparatus with the loading tray assembly in a raised position;

FIG. 4 depicts a front perspective view of a drive assembly and a feedroller of the food product slicing apparatus;

FIG. 5 depicts a top plan view of the drive assembly and feed roller;

FIG. 6 depicts a rear perspective view of the drive assembly, the feedroller and a shear bar and food product gripping assembly of the foodproduct slicing apparatus;

FIG. 7 depicts a rear perspective view of the shear bar and food productgripping assembly;

FIG. 8 depicts a rear elevation view of the shear bar and food productgripping assembly;

FIG. 9 depicts a front elevation view of the shear bar and food productgripping assembly;

FIG. 10 depicts a partial cross-sectional view of the drive assembly,the feed roller, the shear bar and the food product gripping assembly;and

FIG. 11 depicts a front perspective view of food product slicingapparatus with a portion of the frame removed to show internalcomponents.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the disclosure may be susceptible to embodiment in differentforms, there is shown in the drawings, and herein will be described indetail, a specific embodiment with the understanding that the presentdisclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles ofthe disclosure, and is not intended to limit the disclosure to that asillustrated and described herein. Therefore, unless otherwise noted,features disclosed herein may be combined together to form additionalcombinations that were not otherwise shown for purposes of brevity. Itwill be further appreciated that in some embodiments, one or moreelements illustrated by way of example in a drawing(s) may be eliminatedand/or substituted with alternative elements within the scope of thedisclosure.

Food product slicing apparatuses and methods associated with the sameare included in the present disclosure. With reference to the figures,one example of a food product slicing apparatus 20 is shown. The foodproduct slicing apparatus 20 is used to slice food products into slices.The food products may be comprised of a wide variety of edible materialsincluding, but not limited to meat, such as pork bellies, beef, chicken,fish, etc., and cheese.

As generally shown in FIGS. 1-4 , the food product slicing apparatus 20includes a main frame 22, a load assembly 24 mounted on the main frame22, a feed assembly 26 mounted on the main frame 22 downstream of theload assembly 24, a slicing assembly 28 mounted on the main frame 22downstream of the feed assembly 26, and an output assembly 30 mounted onthe main frame 22 downstream of the slicing assembly 28. The foodproduct slicing apparatus 20 further includes a control system 32configured to control operation of the components of the food productslicing apparatus 20. The main frame 22 supports the load assembly 24,the feed assembly 26, the slicing assembly 28, and the output assembly30 on a ground surface and includes various mechanisms and power systemsfor powering the food product slicing apparatus 20. The load assembly 24and the feed assembly 26 are configured to support and handle the foodproducts and to move the food products to the slicing assembly 28. Theslicing assembly 28 is configured to slice the food products intoindividual slices. The sliced food product is supported on the outputassembly 30, which may be a conveyor, in stacks or in shingles and movedaway from the slicing assembly 28. The control system 32 includes allthe necessary hardware and software to perform all of the operations andfunctions of the food product slicing apparatus 20. The control system32 may be mounted on the main frame 22 or may be remote from the mainframe 22.

In an embodiment, and as shown, the load assembly 24 includes a loadingframe 40 on which a conveyor 44 is provided. Other load assemblies 24may be provided.

The feed assembly 26 includes a loading tray assembly 104 mounted on themain frame 22 downstream of the load assembly 24, and a drive assembly106 mounted on the main frame 22 downstream of the loading tray assembly104. The loading tray assembly 104 moves food products from the loadassembly 24 to the drive assembly 106, and the drive assembly 106 movesfood products to the slicing assembly 28.

As shown in FIGS. 2-4 , the loading tray assembly 104 includes alongitudinally extending support frame 112 having a front end pivotallyattached to the main frame 22 at a pivot 114, a conveyor 116 mounted onan upper side of the support frame 112, and an actuator 118 for liftingor lowering the support frame 112 and the conveyor 116. The actuator 118may be pneumatic cylinder.

The conveyor 116 includes an endless belt wrapped around a plurality ofwheels, with at least one of the wheels being a drive wheel or beingdriven by a separate drive wheel. The endless belt defines a planarupper surface 122 upon which food products will translate.

The loading tray assembly 104 is pivotable between a first, loweredposition, see FIG. 2 , in which the conveyor 116 is aligned with theconveyor 44 of the load assembly 2 and a second raised position, seeFIG. 3 , in which the conveyor 116 is aligned with the drive assembly106.

The drive assembly 106 includes a drive frame plate 126 fixedly coupledto, and cantilevered from, the main frame 22, an upper drive assembly130 cantilevered from the drive frame plate 126, a lower drive assembly132 cantilevered from the drive frame plate 126, and a motor assembly134 coupled to the drive frame plate 126 and to the upper and lowerdrive assemblies 130, 132. The drive frame plate 126 extends parallel tothe longitudinal axis of the food product slicing apparatus 20. Theupper drive assembly 130 includes at least conveyor and the lower driveassembly 132 includes at least conveyor. The conveyors may includeendless belts wrapped around a plurality of shaft mounted wheels. Theendless belts defines a planar surfaces upon which food products willtranslate. As shown in in an embodiment, the upper drive assembly 130includes an upstream conveyor 140 mounted on an upstream shaft 138, anda downstream conveyor 144 mounted on a downstream shaft 142. Thedownstream end of the upstream conveyor 140 is proximate to, but spacedfrom, the upstream end of the downstream conveyor 144 such that a gap isformed therebetween. The lower drive assembly 132 includes an upstreamconveyor 156 mounted on an upstream shaft 154, and a downstream conveyor160 mounted on a downstream shaft 158. The downstream end of theupstream conveyor 156 is proximate to, but spaced from, the upstream endof the downstream conveyor 160 such that a gap is formed therebetween.The upstream conveyor 140 is partially positioned over the upstreamconveyor 156 and the downstream ends of the conveyors 140, 156 generallyalign. The upstream end of the upstream conveyor 140 is upstream of theupstream end of the lower conveyor 156. The downstream conveyor 144 ispositioned over the downstream conveyor 160 and the upstream ends andthe downstream ends of the conveyors 144, 160 generally align. The gapsare generally vertically aligned.

When the loading tray assembly 104 is moved to the raised position, thedownstream end 116 b of the conveyor 116 is underneath the upstreamconveyor 140 and proximate to the upstream end of the upstream conveyor156.

The motor assembly 134 includes a motor 246 which is coupled to theshafts 138, 142, 154, 158 to drive the conveyors 140, 144, 156, 160. Asingle motor 246 may be provided to drive all of the conveyors 140, 144,156, 160 at the same speed. If only a single motor 246 is used, the costand complexity of the food product slicing apparatus 20 is reduced.

The slicing assembly 28 includes a feed roller assembly 166, a shear bar340, a food product gripping assembly 342 on the shear bar 340 thatworks in conjunction with the feed roller 172 on the feed assembly 26,and a rotatable slicing blade 344 coupled to the main frame 22 forcutting the food products into slices.

The feed roller assembly 166, as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 , includesa feed roller 172 rotatably mounted between support plates 174 extendingfrom the downstream conveyor 160. The feed roller 172 is proximate tothe downstream end of the downstream conveyor 160. The feed roller 172is wider than endless belt of the downstream conveyor 160. The feedroller 172 is coupled for rotation with the motor assembly 134 by a belt176. The feed roller 172 has a plurality of spaced apart rings 178 ofspiked projections extending outwardly therefrom around thecircumference of the feed roller 172. The axis of rotation of the feedroller 172 is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the downstreamconveyor 160. The upper ends of the rings 178 of spiked projections aregenerally aligned with the upper planar surface of the downstreamconveyor 160.

The shear bar 340 and the food product gripping assembly 342 aredownstream of the drive assembly 106 and the feed roller assembly 166.The slicing blade 344 is downstream of the shear bar 340. The feedroller 172 and the food product gripping assembly 342 grip the foodproducts as the food products are being sliced by the slicing blade 344.

The shear bar 340 is mounted on the main frame 22. As best shown inFIGS. 7-9 , the shear bar 340 includes a plate 348 having a centralopening 350 therethrough which extends from an upstream surface of theplate 348 to a downstream surface of the plate 348, and an insert 352attached to the plate 348 and extending upward to block a lower portionof the opening 350. The opening 350 is generally rectangular and isformed by a planar lower wall surface 354, a planar upper wall surface356 and planar side wall surfaces 358, 360 connecting the lower andupper wall surfaces 354, 356 together. The insert 352 has a plurality ofspaced apart vertical channels 362 formed in an upstream surface thereofand extend from a top surface of the insert 352 toward a bottom of theinsert 352. The downstream surface of the insert 352 is planar and isflush with the downstream surface of the plate 348. While the insert 352is shown as a separate component from the plate 348, the insert 352 maybe integrally formed with the plate 348.

The food product gripping assembly 342 includes first and second feedrollers 364, 366 mounted on first and second roller supporting frames368, 370 coupled to the upstream surface of the plate 348 by first andsecond motors 372, 374 coupled to the first and second feed rollers 364,366 by belts 376, 378. Each feed roller 364, 366 has an axis of rotationwhich is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the food product slicingapparatus 20 and is parallel to the slicing blade 344. The motors 372,374 independently drive the feed rollers 364, 366 for rotation via thebelts 376, 378. The feed roller 364, the motor 372 and the belt 376 aremounted on the roller supporting frame 368, and the feed roller 366, themotor 374 and the belt 378 are mounted on the roller supporting frame370.

The feed roller 172 is positioned within the vertical channels 362 ofthe insert 352 and above the lower wall surface 354. The feed roller 172substantially spans the length of the lower wall surface 354. The feedrollers 364, 366 are supported by the roller supporting frames 368, 370such that the feed rollers 364, 366 are vertically above the feed roller172 and the axes of rotation of the feed rollers 172, 364, 366 are inthe same plane. Each feed roller 364, 366 has a plurality of spacedapart rings 380 of spiked projections extending outwardly therefromaround the circumference of the respective feed roller 364, 366.

The roller supporting frame 368 and the components supported thereon aremovable up and down relative to the lower wall surface 354 under biasfrom an actuator 382. The roller supporting frame 370 and the componentssupported thereon are movable up and down relative to the lower wallsurface 354 under bias from an actuator 384. The actuators 382, 384 maybe pneumatic cylinders. The feed rollers 364, 366 are independentlymovable up and down relative to the feed roller 172 to limit the heightof the opening 350 between the feed roller 364 and the feed roller 172,and to limit the height of the opening 350 between the feed roller 366and the feed roller 172.

Since the feed roller 172 is positioned within the vertical channels 362and the first and second feed rollers 364, 366 are aligned with the feedroller 172, the feed rollers 172, 364, 366 are positioned very close tothe slicing blade 344 when the slicing blade 344.

The slicing blade 344 has planar upstream and downstream surfaces and acutting edge 398 on a perimeter thereof. The slicing blade 344 ismounted on the frame 22 by a motor assembly (not shown) such that alower end of the slicing blade 344 overlaps the portion of the opening350 that are between the feed roller 172 and feed rollers 364, 366.

In use, the food product is loaded on the loading tray assembly 104 whenpositioned in the lowered position. The load assembly 24 is activated tomove the food product onto the conveyor 116. Thereafter, the loadingtray assembly 104 is moved to the raised position and the upper surfaceof the food product engages with the upstream conveyor 140. The upstreamconveyor 140 and the conveyor 116 are activated to move the food productdownstream. The food product moves off of the conveyor 116 and onto theupstream conveyor 156, while still being engaged by the upstreamconveyor 140. The food product is transported between the conveyors 140,156, over the gaps, and between the downstream conveyors 144, 160. Thedownstream conveyor 144 may include two pivoting conveyor belts whichfirmly grip the food product. As a result, the food product is securelygripped as the food product enters between the feed rollers 172, 364,366. The rings 178, 380 of spiked projections on the feed rollers 172,364, 366 bite into the food product. The actuators 382, 384 bias theindividual feed rollers 364, 366 into a tight engagement with the foodproduct. The feed rollers 172, 364, 366 provide a fixed distance to theslicing blade 344 such that the position of the food product iscontrolled right before food product engages with the slicing blade 344.After the food product passes through the portions of the opening 350that are between the feed roller 172 and feed rollers 364, 366, theslicing blade 344 works in combination with the shear bar 340 to cut thefood product into individual slices. The individual slices fall onto theoutput assembly 30 for packaging.

The downstream conveyor 160 is shown as two conveyor belts and eachconveyor belt may be individually pivoted relative to the downstreamconveyor 144. The downstream conveyor 160 may be provided by a singleconveyor, or more than two conveyors. In addition, the downstreamconveyor 160 may not be pivotable. While two feed rollers 364, 366 andtwo roller supporting frames 368, 370 are shown and described, a singlefeed roller and roller supporting frame can be provided, or more thantwo feed rollers and roller supporting frames can be provided.

While a particular embodiment is illustrated in and described withrespect to the drawings, it is envisioned that those skilled in the artmay devise various modifications without departing from the spirit andscope of the appended claims. It will therefore be appreciated that thescope of the disclosure and the appended claims is not limited to thespecific embodiment illustrated in and discussed with respect to thedrawings and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to beincluded within the scope of the disclosure and appended drawings.Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associateddrawings describe example embodiments in the context of certain examplecombinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated thatdifferent combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided byalternative embodiments without departing from the scope of thedisclosure and the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A food product slicing apparatus for slicing foodproducts into slices comprising: a frame; a drive assembly coupled tothe frame and configured move the food products relative to the frame; ashear bar coupled to the frame downstream of the drive assembly, theshear bar having an opening therethrough through which the food productis configured to pass, the shear bar including at least one upper feedroller mounted thereon which overlaps the opening; a lower feed rollerrotatably coupled to the frame downstream of the drive assembly andwhich overlaps the opening, the lower feed roller being positionedproximate to the shear bar and separate from the shear bar, the at leastone upper feed roller and the lower feed roller are aligned with eachother; and a slicing blade coupled to the frame downstream of the driveassembly, the slicing blade being configured to slice the food productsinto slices.
 2. The food product slicing apparatus defined in claim 1,wherein each feed roller is motor driven.
 3. The food product slicingapparatus defined in claim 2, wherein the lower feed roller is coupledto the drive assembly.
 4. The food product slicing apparatus defined inclaim 1, wherein the lower feed roller is coupled to the drive assembly.5. The food product slicing apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein thelower feed roller is driven by a motor which drives the drive assembly.6. The food product slicing apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein thedrive assembly comprises an upper drive assembly coupled to the frame,and a lower drive assembly coupled to the frame, the upper driveassembly being positioned above the lower drive assembly, the upper andlower drive assemblies being configured to receive food producttherebetween and to move the food products relative to the frame andonto the lower feed roller.
 7. The food product slicing apparatusdefined in claim 1, wherein each feed roller has a plurality of spikedprojections thereon.
 8. The food product slicing apparatus defined inclaim 7, wherein the plurality of spiked projections of the lower feedroller seat partially within channels of the shear bar.
 9. The foodproduct slicing apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the at least oneupper feed roller is adjustable in position relative to the lower feedroller.
 10. The food product slicing apparatus defined in claim 9,wherein two upper feed rollers are provided.
 11. The food productslicing apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the lower feed rollerseats partially within channels of the shear bar.
 12. The food productslicing apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein two upper feed rollers areprovided.
 13. The food product slicing apparatus defined in claim 12,wherein each upper feed roller is independently driven for rotation by amotor.
 14. The food product slicing apparatus defined in claim 13,wherein the upper feed rollers are adjustable in position relative tothe lower feed roller.
 15. The food product slicing apparatus defined inclaim 13, wherein the upper feed rollers are independently adjustable inposition relative to the lower feed roller.
 16. The food product slicingapparatus defined in claim 1, wherein an upstream surface of the slicingblade is planar and a downstream surface of the shear bar is planar.